User equipment devices capable of displaying, playing or otherwise providing content to a user frequently receive not just the content, but also metadata associated with the content. This metadata may contain information regarding the substance of the content, how the content was received, how it is to be displayed, or any other potentially useful information related to the content. Metadata can thus aid a user in deciding what content to watch, provide the user equipment device with instructions on actions to take with the content, or contain data that is monitored by the user equipment device.
The metadata is generally received in a specific metadata format, and the user equipment device may need to be aware of this format to properly utilize the metadata. The metadata format may be a proprietary standard or an industry standard, a format used by a single manufacturer or by every manufacturer of similar equipment. These formats can generally be thought of as instructions for interpreting metadata. A metadata format may include definitions for individual fields or tags, the size of the metadata itself or components thereof, and how the metadata is to be decrypted and processed.
Processes or features that utilize the metadata may also require the metadata to be in a particular format. Similarly to the metadata format above, these process specific formats may set requirements on what information should be located in individual fields and how this information is to be formatted. Metadata may need to comply with a process specific format for the process or feature to execute correctly.
A provider of metadata may also format metadata for a specific purpose in a manner that is contrary to the metadata format and/or fails to comply with a process specific format, thereby rendering the metadata unsatisfactory for other purposes. If the metadata does not meet the requirements set forth by the metadata format, a process specific format, or both, the metadata may be considered improperly formatted. For example, received metadata may contain a shortened version of the title of the content it relates to instead of the full title. An editor at the metadata provider may have replaced the full title of the content with the shortened version in order for the displayed title to better fit within program guide listings. However, a process for searching for other content based on titles found in metadata may require the full title of the content in order to perform the search correctly. Therefore, the received metadata may fail to comply with the process specific format of the search process and thus be improperly formatted for performing the search.